Don't Forget
by KeyboardBandit
Summary: Far into the future, a black market in London thrives, giving young adults new lives. Mamrie wants just this, a new start. Dan only wants her to stop, and continue living as herself. In a strange turn of events, they both end up new people, but will the pair be able to find their old selves before they're lost forever?
1. Chapter 1

Merchants all over the nearly empty alley chant to me, holding out syringes and patches for various memory loss techniques. Normally I would've been stopping at Number Twelve, fifth on the right, but tonight I needed something better.

A full restart.

I've heard that some people can't remember a thing about their past selves. Some even forget long-term memories, even the good ones. My heart pounds with excitement as I pass my usual stand. The dealer, Derek, calls out to me. "Watcha doin' Mam? Missin' your usual dose!" I turn back to him, and shake my head. "I'm going out for a full restart! I'll come back if I need anything!" He salutes and I head on through the ever-growing crowd.

Normally people would've already been lining up at the stands, but most offices let out late on Fridays like this. I work in a pharmacy, so I have my own hours planned out by my manager. Usually she lets me out a bit early most days, when I work hard enough. I'm not sure she knows where I go, but I'm not sure she cares wither. I'm not sure anyone cares anymore.

After the Neuro-Decree, the value of life went down. Except for a few rich aristocrats, and government officials, humans became a work force, and only a work force. Lower-class citizens were crammed into tiny apartments and given small rations of food every day. Then the memory wars began. People would find shops, markets, even small cities filled with ways to forget the bad in their lives. Some were cheaper than others, doing a messier job, maybe clipping off a few average memories, not totally erasing the evil. This was long before I was born.

I come to the end of the alley, and look for the supposedly "secret" door to the merchant's stall. A rusting chain-link fence swings in the wind, and I slip through, undetected. Full Restarts are never quite as popular as the less intense remedies, and my only company are the rats that scurry in the garbage. I've always found the dark alleyways of the city thrilling, even enjoyable. Mother took me to a park once, but I was terrified by the wide-open area, not used to being without the cover of dumpsters and buildings.

"You don't have to do this," says a man's voice. I twist around, ready to fight whoever in this shadowy side-street. A man, really only twenty or so with a younger face, emerges from the dark. He doesn't look like he has a weapon, but just in case I feel in my jacket for my knife. Still there, as usual. "I suggest you go home, rich-boy." He shiny leather jacket gleams in the streetlight, and everything about him is clean. He's probably some charity kid from the upper levels.

"No- just listen! Stop! You don't need to become a totally-" he stammers. I shoot him an icy glare, and walk through the now apparent doorway, a rotting wooden door that sticks to the ground. The place smells like metal and medications, a younger woman sitting at a front desk. The rich kid follows behind me, stammering out something. "Hi, we will serve you in just a moment. I'll get the doctors." Immediately two men come into the room. They hold syringes of anesthetic, ready to put me to sleep. I go first, only feeling a sharp pain in my shoulder before slumping into the doctor's arms.

Soon I can have peace.


	2. Chapter 2

I emerge from the darkness slowly, my limbs waking up from numbness long after my brain. I hear voices, two people talking somewhere in the room. The cold metal table nips the back of my leg like a cold fire, and a sour smell winds its way into my nose.

"You up?" asks a voice. I sit up, though my arms are shaky, "Yeah." He nods, as soon as your mate over here gets over the sedative we can talk a bit, then you're free to leave." I look around. What mate? Suddenly, I notice the boy, the rich kid, lying next to me on another metal table. My eyes grow wide. He wasn't supposed to do this to… He was trying to stop me! Now I'm going to have to deal with him and it being my fault he's losing all his memories. I give a panicked look to one of the surgeons. "He wasn't supposed to have the Restart!" I squeak, looking back and forth between the now stirring boy and the two men.

The man, who I can now see properly, has shaggy brown hair that has a bit of a curl to it. He's a giant, taller than most people I've seen. His feet are huge, even in proportion to his body. He reminds me of a puppy in some way, maybe his round face or awkwardly long legs. He grunts, eyes sliding open and hand coming to his head. Now his eyes are opened, I can see their color, a rich chocolaty brown, like the color of plain coffee. Or crap.

"What- Who are you?" he yelps, scrambling up. After a few moments of confusion his panic turns to worry. "Wait, you're the girl who I tried to stop! Did I-" he keeps mumbling on for a few seconds, before realizing that he looks like lunatic. "Sir," he begs the surgeon, "I wasn't supposed to get the surgery! You need to reverse it!" The doctor seems calm compared to the boy, and even me. He puts a hand up, signaling the kid to stop. His dark eyes are still in a panic, darting from me to the room, then back to me again. "Listen kid, you have three days until the effects of the Restart cannot be reversed. Until then, you'll still keep all your memories. OK?"

The kid nods, but glances at me. "I'm not reversing this until she does," he says, crossing his arms and jutting out his chin. I don't know what my face looked like at that moment, but it probably has something to do with confusion and shock. I gape at him, frowning with my mouth hanging open.

"No. You can't do that Rich-Kid. Just go back to your normal life, I'm not going back." I hiss at him, trying to harden my eyes to give myself a sort of tough look. I probably already scare him a bit, taking into mind that we met in a dark alley and I nearly pulled a knife on him. Although I guess he didn't know the last part. Maybe that was for the better.

"Can you two hurry it up and pay? We have more customers waiting and need you two out!" I give the boy a last glance and fish out fifty bucks, handing it to the man. "If you want to reverse the process, just come back here and we can give you a partial refund." I nod, but know I won't be needed that refund. In three days, I'll have forgotten everything, permanently.

"I will now pay for something I did not want!" says the kid. I turn around and glare at him. He's standing now, leaning against the operating table. A defiant stare is embedded in his face, but in the end he just looks like a scared little kid. One of the surgeons, the bigger of the two, takes a step towards him. "OK fine I'll pay," he squeaks, bringing an almost cruel smile to my face. He threw a few pounds on the table, not bothering to count. I turn around and walk away, out the door, and begin down the alley. Footsteps echo behind me. "Wait!"

I turn around. This kid, doesn't he know when to stop? "What's your name?" he asks. I squint at him. "Why should I tell you?" I growl. He doesn't stand back. We stare at each other in silence unsure what to do or say. Then, slowly, I turn back and keep walking down the alley. His footsteps pound after me. I turn my head back one last time, and mutter, "Just go. I've made my choice."

"I'm not going to stop until you go back to that place and get your brain fixed. If you want be to stop, turn around and get a refund. I'm Dan, by the way. Dan Howell." He says the last part less intensely than the first. I look him in the eye, one last moment, and smile. "If you want to lose all your memories, go ahead. You can go ahead and do that. I'm Mamrie. Feel free to follow me all you want." In all seriousness, he is pretty cute. His dark eyes peer out from under the hair that covers his face. And in reality he is nice. He just doesn't want me to get my memories taken away.

A few people are like that, rich people at the top of the city who don't know what we want to forget. If they went through what we did, they would do this to. Maybe if I give him an idea of what actually happens down here before the three days are up, all the rich people can leave us alone, and we'll be able to do whatever we want.

We walk out onto the main alley and out to the street. The kid seems to be begging, pleading me to go back to the Restart Office with his eyes, those dark brown puppy eyes. He probably has an obnoxiously beautiful girlfriend, up whatever level of the city he's come from. From his spotless shirt, I could tell he was at least in Level 3, while we were down in Seven, the Level for Factories and Manufacturing. Three is the first level that doesn't involve hands-on work, the level of Technology. He doesn't seem like a tech nerd, but there's no way a Two would come down here. Right? Two's are nobles, only set below the King and Queen themselves.

"So what Level are you on?" I ask, hoping for a bit of information, and trying to start a bit of a conversation. He looks down at me, I never realized how tall he is until now.

"Five," he says quickly, then looks backup, head held high. I almost let out a snort, it's obvious he's no Five.

Lies, lies, lies.


End file.
